I don't mind about the genre, any genre can tell a good story, including strategy games. I don't need graphics to be immersed I read a lot of books and sometimes prefer it to films. Are there any good interactive experiences that really tells a good story?

Things I'm looking for:1) Character(s) you care about.2) Coherent setting, where the game doesn't need to tell you all of the lore explicitly. E.g. Mass effect3) No grinding, I don't want to spend 20+ hours in dungeons killing minions. E.g. Bastion4) For Japanese interactive novels especially, the female character(s) have to have some believable depth beyond just being pretty. E.G. Narcissu5) For free world games there has to be some particular story line that is intentionally written. E.g. Skyrim6) Music that feels right does a lot for immersion. E.g. GTA: Vice city7) Good translation where a lot of effort was put in to make it smooth.

Not sure if it really counts as the interactive story experience you want. But I thought Bastion did a brilliant job at telling its story and keeping me entranced in its world. The campaign is short at 6 hours, but I didn't stop for a moment throughout the entire time I was so enthralled with how the game played out, and it gives a few characters you enjoy interacting with, at least with the items you find that helps progress the lore of the world.

tendaji:Not sure if it really counts as the interactive story experience you want. But I thought Bastion did a brilliant job at telling its story and keeping me entranced in its world. The campaign is short at 6 hours, but I didn't stop for a moment throughout the entire time I was so enthralled with how the game played out, and it gives a few characters you enjoy interacting with, at least with the items you find that helps progress the lore of the world.

Unfortunately I only have access to a laptop at the moment. Trauma team definitely looks interesting. Not sure if I want to play Ace Attorney though, I know a couple of lawyers and they are not the kind of people I want to role play as. I guess representing faceless corporations all day makes them a bit cold somewhat.

Alan Wake: If you like Stephen King, this is an awesome game like a movie about a book. Combat is brief and the light mechanic makes it more cinematic then grindy.

Assassin's Creed: If you skip the side missions (which can be kinda grindy), the main storyline is a very good tale. Plenty of epic span across all of the games, and excellent characters.

Bioshock 1&2: There's a lot of wandering around just killing splicers, but the way that the story is told through Audio diaries instead of thrown at you is neat. There's a whole lot of rather interesting philosophical discussion on the downfall of rapture and the reasons why it was built and why it failed.

Half Life 2: Well, there's a whole lot of killing some boring combine and lots of environment puzzles that keep it from being "movielike". But there is a very interesting story being told or silently presented to the player as you move from one area to the next.

goodman528:I don't mind about the genre, any genre can tell a good story, including strategy games. I don't need graphics to be immersed I read a lot of books and sometimes prefer it to films. Are there any good interactive experiences that really tells a good story?

Things I'm looking for:1) Character(s) you care about.2) Coherent setting, where the game doesn't need to tell you all of the lore explicitly. E.g. Mass effect3) No grinding, I don't want to spend 20+ hours in dungeons killing minions. E.g. Bastion4) For Japanese interactive novels especially, the female character(s) have to have some believable depth beyond just being pretty. E.G. Narcissu5) For free world games there has to be some particular story line that is intentionally written. E.g. Skyrim6) Music that feels right does a lot for immersion. E.g. GTA: Vice city7) Good translation where a lot of effort was put in to make it smooth.

Though the storyline hasn't concluded yet, Half Life 2 and its two episodes are extremely well-paced, well written, and are exemplary examples of perfectly blending gameplay and story. Though the last episode ends with a cliffhanger, there is more officially sanctioned HL3 news swirling about than ever before, so it seems you won't have to wait much longer for a conclusion for that story. Either way, a truly unique and satisfying game experience.

skywolfblue:Alan Wake: If you like Stephen King, this is an awesome game like a movie about a book. Combat is brief and the light mechanic makes it more cinematic then grindy.

Assassin's Creed: If you skip the side missions (which can be kinda grindy), the main storyline is a very good tale. Plenty of epic span across all of the games, and excellent characters.

Bioshock 1&2: There's a lot of wandering around just killing splicers, but the way that the story is told through Audio diaries instead of thrown at you is neat. There's a whole lot of rather interesting philosophical discussion on the downfall of rapture and the reasons why it was built and why it failed.

Half Life 2: Well, there's a whole lot of killing some boring combine and lots of environment puzzles that keep it from being "movielike". But there is a very interesting story being told or silently presented to the player as you move from one area to the next.

Alan Wake progresses too slowly and don't have such a good story because there's not a lot of character development, also the combat played out the same way every time and becomes a grind. It was a game I really looked forward to after playing Max Payne.

Played Half Life 2 when it came out, and was very disappointed, felt it was just all hype and no substance. I really don't see why so many people like it, the source engine is not very good artistically, it don't make beautiful environments. Environmental puzzles and first person shooter doesn't really go well together, it just feels frustrating when I'm not shooting.

Tried Bioshock, that was quite good, but didn't have the patience to finish it. Assassin's Creed sounds like too much grinding, and it's like X files in that the creators don't really know where the story is going, so that's very bad. It's much better if they just make one game, one story, and move on, but now they are just making a cash product.

If you can get passed the aged visuals, the core design was and still is ahead of it's time and offers a intricate, player driven, expansive story... well characterized 3 dimensional characters... a fleshed out and engaging world which the story does a great job of leading you through... the best part about the world is that it's fleshed out by the player, lots of options to delve deeper into the world through lots of different facets, in the context of the world, like news articles and emails... it really adds to the immersion factor...

and of course the hybrid gameplay offers a lot of options for character building through actual gameplay... not just picking a dialogue option...<.<

Also, it's like 5 bucks...

I might add that the new Deus Ex is worth playing too... story was pretty good... characters were pretty good... though the biggest draws are the pretty visuals and the improved combat... not as good story or character wise(or gameply wise to an extent), but it's still worth a look...<.<

How about the recent Batman games, Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. I couldn't put them down until I finished the stories of both, and while AAs core is better, I think the ending of AC (no DLC mind you) was incredible.

Apart from that I can't really say much. Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 had good stories. Both Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron and Elite Squadron have good stories that kind of weave into the framework of the movies, something I didn't pick up on until my latest viewing of Return of the Jedi. Errrr....

Oh, have you played either the Sly Cooper games or the Jak & Daxter games? They both have good stories that while connected, can hold themselves up as solo stories and games.

Fate/Stay Night. A Japanese visual novel which is easily my favourite story of all time. Its characters are actually deep and endearing, the basic story easy to follow, though there are a lot of plot twists, and the seemingly basic and simple story is incredibly dark and deep as you explore it. It's broken up into 3 routes, each starting at the same place but with a small change near the beginning lead to completely different stories and levels of how dark they are. The first two arcs being 20-25 hours long each and the third being 40-50 hours. It's not lost its position as best visual novel of all time since 2004 when it was made, I've yet to see a review give it below a 10.

The basic plot if you're 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

If you (or anyone) is interested, PM me and I'll tell you how to get it, installing it can be painful by yourself.

Schaaka:Japanese visual novel? I do believe those are called Anime, good sir.

With all due respect good sir, you could not be much further from the truth. A visual novel is more like a book with music, character sprites and environments, along with choices. Voice acting optional. Barely any make it outside Japan though, even fan translated, so it's cool not knowing of them.